Floor Structure’s Eli Fernald—the developer, architect, and normal contractor behind 96 King Road in Crimson Hook, Brooklyn—is telling me a few latest encounter with passersby outdoors his constructing: “We’re fairly near the cruise ship terminals, and plenty of vacationers get off and stroll across the neighborhood. Sooner or later, I see an older Russian couple, standing on the nook and arguing. They maintain speaking and searching up on the constructing. And, lastly, the man seems to me and asks, ‘Is that this constructing new?’ ”
The condo constructing is, certainly, solely new development—however Eli can perceive the couple’s confusion. He designed the three-unit, brick-fronted construction to take a look at residence within the historic waterfront neighborhood, which is understood for its industrial warehouses and nineteenth century brick and clapboard properties. “I needed to design the constructing in a approach that feels proper for the context and constraints.” he explains. “It felt disingenuous to do one thing arduous fashionable right here.”
As a substitute, he needed each the within and outdoors to be in “the identical language and scale” because the neighborhood’s modest structure, opting to leverage conventional strategies and supplies (suppose lime plaster, terra-cotta, salvaged pine wooden) to translate the brand new construct right into a timeless work.
The uncooked finishes channel a “noble industrialism” that, in Unit #2 (at present listed for $2.95 million), is offset by modern-earthy interiors by actual property stagers and Remodelista favorites Hollister and Porter Hovey. “Eli designs with ardour and a private imaginative and prescient that you simply don’t often see with new developments. It’s simply so refreshing to seek out one thing that feels utterly bespoke,” says Porter.
Beneath, Eli and the Hovey sisters give us a tour of Unit #2.
Images by Hollister Hovey.
